President's Remarks at GOP Luncheon
Remarks by the President to Robin Hayes for Congress and Elizabeth Dole for Senate
North Carolina Republican Party Luncheon
Charlotte Convention Center
Charlotte, North Carolina

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very
much. Please, be seated. Your salad might get
cold. (Laughter.)

Thanks so much for that warm welcome. It's great to be
back in the state of North Carolina. It just seems like I
was here a couple of weeks ago -- I
was. (Laughter.) I love coming to your
state. The people here are wonderful and
friendly. I love working the rope line at the airport when
people say, Mr. President, I'm praying for you. I can't tell
you how wonderful that makes me feel.

I thank you for your support and your friendship. I
thank you for getting ready to send a fabulous woman to the United
States Senate named Elizabeth Dole. (Applause.)

I appreciate all those who have come to contribute not only to
Elizabeth but to my friend, Robin Hayes's, campaign, but also to the
Republican Party of North Carolina. (Applause.)

Somebody said to me the other day -- or, actually, asked me today,
am I going to campaign? You know, here we are in war, do you
think it's all right for the President to go campaign? I
said, yes, I do. I think it'd be a lot easier for me to
accomplish what I want to accomplish with Denny Hastert as Speaker of
the House of Representatives, and with Trent Lott as Majority Leader of
the United States Senate. (Applause.)

So I want to thank you all for coming to support two good
candidates in the party. I also want to say, although
Elizabeth is going to make a great United States Senator, it's been a
joy to work with Jesse Helms, he's been a strong
voice. (Applause.) And like -- you know, Robin is
smart enough to send his wife. (Laughter.) I
should have sent mine. (Laughter.) What a fabulous job
she's doing. (Applause.)

You know, when I married her, she was a public school librarian,
didn't particularly care for politics -- truth be known, politicians.
(Laughter.) And now she has been in a position of such
important responsibility and she's handled her position with such calm
and resolve. It's been a wonderful comfort, not only to me, but to the
country, and I'm so grateful for her and the sacrifices she has made.

We're doing great, by the way. I've never felt stronger
in my life. I think it's because my wife is so great. It's
also because I happen to be the President of the greatest nation on the
face of the earth and this country is united and
resolved. (Applause.)

Another reason I feel confident in our ability to accomplish some
important missions for the country, is I've assembled a great
team. For those of you who have ever run a company or run an
organization, you understand what I'm about to say -- that you're only
as good as your team. And my national security team is strong and
capable and experienced. And so is my domestic policy team,
with Tommy Thompson playing an integral role. And, Tommy, I
want to thank you for serving the country and thank you for being a
part of my Cabinet. (Applause.)

We're here today to talk about welfare reform. You do a
good job in Mecklenburg County about making sure that businesses are
responsible citizens in the county, and helping people help themselves
by finding them work. And we understand that work is an
integral part of any welfare reform, but we also understand that we've
got to pass power out of Washington, D.C. so the local folks can meet
important goals and objectives. (Applause.) And
speaking about local folks who we trust, you've got a fine
Mayor. We appreciate the Mayor of Charlotte and we
appreciate his leadership. (Applause.)

And I also want to thank Sue Myrick. She is a fine
member of the United States Congress. Every other word is
"Charlotte" when I'm around her. (Laughter and
applause.) She did a great job as mayor.

And, speaking about that, Robin Hayes. He needs to go
back to Washington, D.C. He needs to be reelected for the
good of North Carolina, North Carolina workers and North Carolina
business owners. (Applause.)

And I want to thank you, Barbara, for representing
him. We've got -- Barbaras have a sweet spot in our heart in
the Bush family. And you did a fine job. I
completely understand why Robin is not here. He wants to be
working on behalf of the North Carolina people, which is what he has
done every time I've met with him. He's one of the best
grassroots politicians I've ever met. He's the kind of
fellow that, when you're driving through the district, he says, there's
old Joe over there, he owns that business. And there's this fellow
over there, I got to know him when I went to shake hands with him.

He also stood strong for the textile industry. When it
became clear that there was going to be some trade negotiations going
on, he said, I want to make sure textiles are not dealt out of the mix
this time. And because of his leadership, textiles have not
been dealt out of the mix.

The Secretary of Commerce was in your state the other day and made
it clear that when it comes to trade, we're for fair trade for U.S.
products. And I want to thank Robin for his leadership. And
the North Carolina people ought to be thanking him for his leadership,
as well. (Applause.)

And I can't wait to work with Elizabeth Dole. It's
important this state send her to Washington, D.C. It's
important that you have somebody in Washington that when she calls over
to the White House, they answer the phone. (Laughter and
applause.) She's been a long-time friend. I trust
her judgment. I know the integrity she'll bring to the
office.

I've been so impressed about how hard she is
working. It's so easy to come into a state and take things
for granted. That's not Elizabeth Dole's
style. She is going to out-work anybody who's running for
the United States Senate because she loves the state of North
Carolina. She's always loved North Carolina, and she's going
to represent you with class and dignity in the United States
Senate. (Applause.)

And we've got an important agenda in Washington. We're
defending our country. You know, the enemy attacked us
thinking we were soft, thinking our culture was corrupt, thinking we'd
just kind of roll over and say, okay, fine, we'll figure out if we can
sue 'em. (Laughter.) Man, did they make a
mistake. They found a nation that's
resolved. (Applause.)

They have found out that we will defend freedom. They
understand now that this nation is slow to anger, but when angered we
will chase 'em down and we'll bring 'em to justice.

I'm so proud of the United States
military. (Applause.) For those of you who've got
relatives in the military -- I met one young wife whose husband was in
the 101st -- I want to thank you all for your sacrifice to our country,
as well. And the budget I've submitted to the United States
Congress clearly reflects the need to defend our country. It
is the largest defense increase since Ronald Reagan was President of
the United States.

It says this: that if we put our troops in harm's way,
if we ask young men and women to defend America, our allies and our
freedom, they must have the best equipment, the best training and the
best pay possible. (Applause.)

We have put together a mighty coalition of freedom-loving nations,
nations all resolved to rout out terror wherever it may
exist. It's going to require our nation to be steadfast and
strong in order to make sure that coalition stays
focused. And it's easy for a nation, for a leadership, to
assume that position when we've got a nation that is resolved and
patient and determined.

I'm proud of the military, and I'm equally as proud of the people
of the United States of America. We understand what is at
stake. We understand our freedoms are now being
challenged. We understand that civilization itself is under
attack. And we will not relent. We stand strong
in the face of the evil ones. And we will be victorious,
make no mistake about it. (Applause.)

The American people understand it's going to take time to
accomplish our objective. We're just in the first theater in
the war against terror. We were able to uphold a new doctrine which
said, if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you try to
hide a terrorist, you, yourself, are just as guilty as the
terrorist. The Taliban, one of the most repressive
governments in the history of the world, has found out what we meant
when we said, we will hold you accountable for harboring terrorists.

Our military, they're not conquerors; they're
liberators. We liberated women and children from the
clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in the history of mankind,
and I'm so proud of the accomplishment in
Afghanistan. (Applause.)

And our troops are still in harm's way. We're now in a
dangerous phase in accomplishing our objectives. After all,
we're chasing down people who, on the one hand, send young boys to
their death in the name of religion and, on the other hand, hide in
caves. But there's no cave deep enough, they can't hide long
enough. Because I'm patient, and so is the United States
military. We will take however long it takes to hunt them
down and to bring them to justice. And that's exactly what
they deserve, the justice of a freedom-loving nation, a justice of a
nation which will defend herself at all costs. The price of
freedom is expensive, but we'll pay the price necessary to defend our
freedoms. (Applause.)

But history has called us into something larger than just one
organization. We must defend ourselves and, more
importantly, our children and our children's children against future
terrorist attacks. And so the cause goes way beyond one
person or one country. Our cause is to rout out terror
wherever it hides, is to rally a coalition and insist upon results,
insist that we bring terrorists to justice.

It also recognizes a nightmare scenario, a scenario which
recognizes that great harm could come to freedom-loving nations if we
ever allow a terrorist organization to hook up or become
an alliance with a transparent nation which develops weapons
of mass destruction. We cannot allow some of the world's
worst leaders to develop the world's worst weapons, to hold America and
our friends hostage. This administration will rout out
terror wherever it exists and will hold people accountable -- if they
harbor a terrorist or made up a terrorist or threaten the United States
with terrorist weapons. (Applause.) Thank you.

My most important job is to protect innocent
Americans. The best homeland defense is to pursue terrorists
overseas. The best way to secure the homeland for the long
run is to be successful. In the meantime, however, I found a
good man, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, I've known for a
long time, a friend of Tommy's and mine, to set up a national strategy
to defend the homeland. We've got a first-responder
initiative that's strong, that basically will rally police and fire
departments at the local level to respond if there ever is a problem.

We're strengthening the Coast Guard to make our coasts more
secure. We're going to make sure our borders are secure by
understanding who's coming in and who's going out of the United States
of America. We're doing everything in our power to rally the
resources of law enforcement and intelligence communities to protect
the American people. I'm proud of the efforts of the law
enforcement level -- at the federal and state and local
level. They will stay on alert so long as there is a threat
to the United States of America.

And we've got a job to do at home, as well. You know, I
was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any
time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said
only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in
recession. (Laughter.) Little did I realize we'd
get the trifecta. (Laughter.) But we're fine.

You know, I campaigned on tax relief because I knew it was the
right thing to do. It became even more apparent it was the
right thing to do when our economy started slowing down, before I got
sworn in as President. Tax relief, fortunately for the American
economy, passed the United States Congress by giving people more of
their own money to spend. It'll help invigorate the
economy.

Now, there are some in Washington who say, well, maybe we ought not
to have tax relief; maybe you ought to create uncertainty about the tax
relief plan. Forget it. That's not going to
happen. That's not going to happen. Tax relief for the
American people happened at the right time. It was the right
thing to do and I stand strongly in support of giving people their own
money back. (Applause.)

And for the good of a lot of people in North Carolina, in
particular, the North Carolina farmers and ranchers, we put the death
tax on its way to extinction. (Applause.) And
you'll hear them screaming about the budget up there. But if
they're worried about the budget, what they need to do is fund the
priorities I've sent up there: national defense, homeland
security, education and then hold the line on spending everywhere else
and we'll be just fine. (Applause.)

And speaking about education, I'm proud that we passed a good bill,
a really good education bill. I know it shocked you and I
can guarantee it shocked the people in Crawford, Texas to hear me say
nice things about Ted Kennedy. (Laughter.) He
deserved nice things said about him in this case because he got the
bill un-stuck in the United States Senate. It is a bill
which says the Republican Party understands that we've got to educate
every child, that no child should be left behind; that we strongly
believe in accountability in our public school systems; that we believe
that poor children can read and write and add and subtract; that we
insist that there be local control of schools, and we understand that
reading is a new civil right for every child in
America. (Applause.)

This party now stands squarely with the children of America, to say
that everybody ought to be educated; and we support our public schools
and we think they can do a better job; and the federal role, while
needed, is limited.

I was proud of the bipartisan spirit. We need more
bipartisanship in Washington, D.C. We need less people
worried about their own personal political careers, and more people
focused on what's best for the United States of
America. (Applause.)

You know, I was very impressed today by what I saw on the job
training program. It really reinforces in my mind that the
best initiatives are always those that kind of spring out of the hearts
of people who really care more about their communities than anybody in
a distant government could possibly care. And it reminds me
of what I try to tell people when they say, what can I do to help
America? What can I do to help fight in the war against
terror?

Well, if you're not wearing a uniform, I've got a suggestion for
you. Love your neighbor like you'd like to be loved
yourself. It's kind of a universal admonition, it doesn't
pertain to one religion or another, but it's pretty good advice, it
seems like to me. Because if you're worried about fighting
evil, one way to do so is to do some good. One way this
nation can stand up to forces of evil is through the gathering momentum
of millions of acts of kindness which take place every day -- not
because of government, but because a loving citizen has said to him or
herself, what can I do to help? What can I do to make my
community a better place?

Every time somebody in America walks next door to see a shut-in and
says, I care about you, that's part of the momentum of kindness that I
was talking about. If you mentor a child and say to that
child, I love you, teach a child how to read, you really are standing
in the face of terror and evil.

Now, the great strength of the country is really not in the halls
in Washington; it's in the hearts and souls of the people of North
Carolina and Texas and every other state in the Union. And
my job is to capture the spirit of this country and to rally the
strength, to stand tall in the face of evil. And there's no
doubt we can do this in this nation.

I believe that we're on the verge of changing a culture that will
have lasting benefits. Not only do I believe that what we
pursue overseas will make the world more peaceful for generations to
come, I believe that what's taking place in America today could make
America a more compassionate and kind place for years to come, as
well.

A lot of us grew up during a time when the culture said, if it
feels good, just go ahead and do it, and if you've got a problem, blame
somebody else. I believe this nation is now on the cusp of
welcoming in a period of personal responsibility, a responsibility era
-- an era which says each of us are responsible for the decisions we
make in life. And that starts with moms and dads
understanding their most important job is to love their children with
all their heart and all their soul. It also means, in a
period of responsibility, that we love a neighbor like we'd like to be
loved ourselves.

Personal responsibility extends to the corporate world as well, by
the way. Corporate America has got the responsibility to
disclose all assets and liabilities for shareholders and
employees. It's also got a responsibility to treat the
employees with respect, and help. It's like the corporate
responsibility I saw today when corporate Charlotte was working to help
people find jobs and find work, understanding that in work they find
dignity.

Now, I absolutely believe that America is going to make some right
choices in life. And those choices collectively will help
change the culture and we'll be better off for it. The enemy
hit us. They thought we were weak and
soft. Instead, they found a nation that is strong and
determined. But a nation, as well, that is compassionate and
decent; a nation that will defend the values of freedom, but a nation
that will also make sure the doors of hope and justice and opportunity
are open to every person who's fortunate enough to be called an
American.